Written by Noél Rich | 01 November 2012

Hi you all!

Already November, and in spite of difficulties we have much to give thanks for!

Last month we helped in another funeral, this time it was of a young man who really wasn't in our church here though he had come some before and did appreciate Bob's studies. Luis Angel was a psychology major in the university and really desired to help others know the Lord through his sharing. He had worked some in our Ebenezer school and had been in Lima for several months for special courses. He was diagnosed with leukemia and was back in Lima for treatment. He had recovered a good bit then suddenly had a relapse and God took him home. His folks brought the body here for the funeral. Bob spoke there and we sang, several of the family members are not believers so we think it was a testimony to them. The parents live in Puno and are now back there.

As for the Llerena family, they still need prayer, but we are thankful that the Dad, Justo Pastor, is recovering. He is still in the hospital, had a liver infection (pus in the liver which is still being drained) and was operated on last week. At first the family was told he had liver cancer, which was a terrible blow to hear right after their son committed suicide. At least now the drs. have said it is NOT cancer. A cyst was removed from Justo's liver and he has a drain in to remove the pus and clean it out. He can finally eat a little without vomiting, and though he still has pain, he is better. Thanks for praying for the whole family, still!

Bob has had some good trips with some baptisms in the Majes valley. Last Sunday we baptized a young guy (Lucho) here who has been coming to the adolescent meetings on Sat. aft. here in the main Arequipa church. I have been teaching the lessons for this, and ask for prayer. It is time consuming but we really want these kids to know Christ. Now two more girls who come to this want to be baptized, so please help us pray for them. Our older youth group is involved in a Sunday afternoon outreach to a town outside of Arequipa, Yarabamba, which has no Christian church. A couple of the older believers also go and they give out tracts and witness and have found some truly interested. Some of our girls work with the children who come out to the plaza, and others split up to visit homes. Several of the youth group want to visit a mountain town, Orcopampa, mid November, to help in the small church there and reach out too. Thanks for praying for our youth. We praise the Lord for working in and through them.

Please keep praying for wisdom in appointing elders in the main Arequipa church. Bob continues in preparation of a few, and we need God's timing and guiding to see this need fulfilled.

Here we are in prayer for the upcoming elections in the U.S. We know the Lord is ultimately in control, whatever happens. And we are truly thankful for the freedom we have here to proclaim His Word. We hope each of you will have a very Blessed Thanksgiving, not just one day, but every day! We thank you truly for all your praying and sharing with us!

Written by Noél Rich | 04 October 2012

Hi to you all!

October is going fast. I have been really busy and we need your prayers! Thank you so very much for praying for us and for helping us here. School anniversary program is tomorrow. We pray for God to be glorified in all the presentations. Lord willing, I am doing songs with 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades and a skit with the 5th graders.

The students are really getting all excited as we will have a vacation of one week and they are finished with their tests and full of "spring fever" etc. The Lord is blessing and we continue really thankful for the opportunity to share Christ with the students, parents, and teachers. One of the teachers came to talk to Bob yesterday. He is ministering in an abandoned children's home and wants to influence the kids for God. Thanks for praying for the ministries of the school.

Late September one of our deacon's family had a tragedy in his family. Their oldest son killed himself by hanging after being left by his live in girlfriend, whom he hoped to marry and with whom had a little daughter of over a year. Toño was desperate and just couldn't deal with the depression. He had come to church that morning and had confessed that he had wandered from the Lord. His folks and adopted brother, (our Pepe) had talked to him and counseled him, but early Monday morning Pepe found him dead, hung in his room.

We had the funeral and burial, but it still is a real hardship for especially the parents. Toño was 35. The Dad, our deacon Justo Pastor, has been in radiation therapy for cancer for most of this year and after the suicide of his son has had continued high fevers and bad colic. Our govt. paid doctors are on strike and Pastor has had a hard time getting the needed medical attention, but supposedly they are going to remove his gall bladder to see if that helps. However, his sickness plus the death of their son is especially hard on Narcisa, his wife, now.

Please pray especially for the parents: JUSTO PASTOR and NARCISA LLERENA. Their other children are grown, two married and the other older son came from Chile for at least a week to try to help. Pepe is taking it all about the best of the family, but is obviously affected too. Thanks for your prayers.

Bob had some profitable trips, and this weekend is going to Camaná for the baptism of two of the grown children of the brother who leads the meetings there. For the next weekend he may go to Aplao for the baptism of another new believer and wife from the Majes Valley. Thanks so much for praying, the car is working wonderfully. We are very thankful for this vehicle.

Our older youth group has been doing a course on preparation for marriage. Please pray for solid marriages and homes to be formed among our believers in these very shaky days. Some of these youth are also studying and preparing for how they can be involved in missions. We praise the Lord for some real dedicated youth here. Some of them are also going out Sunday afternoons to witness and meet with interested people in a town about an hour's drive from here that has no church.

Again, thanks so very much for praying for us and for helping us in God's work here. Many blessings, Noél for us

Written by Noél Rich | 03 September 2012

Hi dear friends!

Well, yes, spring is coming here this month. It is getting warmer, but it really is windy, which brings dust, etc. August went really fast. Here we had several weddings. Some of these were opportunities to share God's Word with unconverted relatives and friends. This is a testimony for our Lord and we are thankful for every opportunity.

However, along with the sweet comes some sour. Some of our previously married couples have had serious marriage problems. We are concerned and are praying for several of these. Seems like Satan attacks most at the core of Christian life, the home and family. Way too many homes are destroyed and we ask your prayers for this situation here, for wisdom in counseling and teaching, for true love. Our youth are studying a booklet to help them prepare for this most important step in their lives, and Bob and I are helping them some, Bob with the guys and me with the girls. We praise the Lord for some really dedicated youth here in our main church in Arequipa. I also am helping with the adolescent, pre and early teens, on Sat. afternoons. Please help us pray for these kids, as well as the ones in school. Our desire is to see them follow the Lord faithfully all their lives, and not stray when they grow up.

Bob has had some profitable trips to different mountain areas, and is now on his way to Culypampa for 3 days of teaching God's Word. He is going with our national worker, Teodoro, especially for the help with the Quechua. Other believers are going from Cotahuasi, especially Brad Shaw's son in law, Aaron Kieda. Thanks for your prayers! Also, really neat to see how the car is working, truly great! Gas is really expensive here though. I am thankful I have not had any more "nosedives", but our dollar rate sure has taken too many nose dives! It is at an all time low! God is providing and we truly do thank you for your part with us!

However, again, with the sweet, comes some sour. We have had problems with some of our national workers. We personally as well as the church here are no longer supporting Nicolas Ala, because of his proud and uncooperative attitudes. We do pray for the Lord to work in his heart. Most of you know we cut off Alvaro as well, he had been involved in serious lying and swindling. Please help us pray for the right solution for the radio he was administering. It is no longer being aired but they have not been able to sell it yet. We pray for God to lead in this situation, sometimes it is hard to know how to pray!

School is going fast, once again I have lots of tests to give, grade, register, etc., but God is giving strength. Discipline continues to be a problem, especially in the older grades, 6th especially. But there are several there who really want to learn and know God too, and this really gives me motivation to keep on. Thanks for praying for fruit in lives, students, teachers, and parents. Bob has a teaching session with the teachers every other week. Please pray for this, sometimes it seems the teachers are really tired or just not too interested. Some are though, which helps! Bob has some home Bible studies, one especially will grow into a church, maybe, as it is in a distant part of Arequipa. Folks from there come down to town here for church, but are active in the weekly Bible study up there so we think a permanent meeting may be established in their neighborhood. Thanks for praying for this too!

One thing that is a concern here is our increased and increasing traffic, contamination, and smog. Our street is getting really awful. They are fixing several of the streets because of the damage and flooding caused by last year's rains, which makes them close off streets, block up traffic, yuk. So thankful we can walk to a lot of places.

Thanks so much for all your praying and sharing with us. Many thanks and blessings for you all,

Noél for us.

Written by Noél Rich | 01 August 2012

Hi y'all!

Yes, another month has gone by - bye! And fast! Hope you are enjoying your summer, also going fast! Here it is still cold nights, but getting warmer in the days.

In July I got to travel with Bob a couple of times. We had a seminar in Cotahuasi, with our missionary colleagues, Brad and Gina Shaw. It was a good time, and folks came from different towns in the canyons where they work. Bob did a lot of the teaching and I helped with the children's classes. A real blessing!

From there we came back through Chuquibamba and Aplao and visited the believers there. They need prayer and encouragement as there are fewer believers in these towns, but some do desire to continue meeting together. Thanks for praying for these places and their believers.

Then last week on the school mid year vacation, Bob and I went to Espinar, a high, cold place in the Cusco province. Believers came for meetings from different ranches around, and we think it was an encouragement for them. Again, Bob did most of the teaching, though the believers from there all speak Quechua. Many of the women do not speak Spanish, so some of the brothers interpreted, or re-taught Bob's messages to the ladies.

I had some children's classes there too - the kids speak Spanish as soon as they go to school, so it worked out. Except one little detail: Sat. noon after two Bible stories and applications, songs, prayer, etc., I was playing a game with the children, (about 20 of them) and while running around their circle to get to the place before the little gal caught me I tripped and went down again, you guessed it, pow on my poor already broken, twisted, and permanently RED NOSE!!

It went "crack" and bled and I was really weak for a good while, (altitude too played a part in that!), but it did not fracture again, but it did deviate the septim more, disconnecting a bone from it's cartilage. After Espinar, we went to a ranching community (these "ranches" are llamas and alpacas, high altitude animals with valuable wool, and some sheep) in the Puno state.

I had a children's class there and again, Bob spoke, as believers from 4 churches in that high area get together once a month and this time Bob and I helped. Again, it was mostly Quechua, but the older children do know Spanish. There weren't as many children there as in Espinar, but some did profit I trust, from their Bible teaching. In both places we exhorted the parents to teach their children.

This is one of the biggest problems in our outlying churches, many of the children do not follow the Lord when they grow up even though they have Christian parents. This is one of the main reasons we have the school here in Arequipa, - though yes, it is the parents' responsibility, there are opportunities here to help the parents, students, and teachers to know and follow God. Thanks so much for praying for us in all of this.

After the ranches in Puno, we went to the city of Puno where we have a small church, founded by Mario Soto, along with Rafael Roca and their families. We were just there Sunday evening and Mon. morning. Rafael's brother is a medical doctor in Puno. He is not a believer yet, but is very willing and helpful to the believers there. He got me to get an xray in his clinic and yes, I have to get my nose fixed. I had some other problems too and he was very helpful and kind.

If you ever go to Puno he specializes in tourists' medical needs and emergencies. Also please pray for Ricardo Roca and his Dad, Alfredo, to come to know the Lord. The mom, sister, and brother are dear believers.

Well, this computer does not show me how to get the letters bigger or the paragraphs better spaced so hope you all can read this! Thanks! We have two weddings coming up this week, so my school vacation is getting shorter. Seems I also picked up some unwanted invaders in my guts on this last trip so I'm having a hard time getting much done!

Will add about the trips: the car worked really well! We were on mostly dirt roads, some worse than others, and are very thankful for the vehicle. However, on one of these dirt roads, going in to Espinar, a big truck from a mine up there threw up a rock from its tire which went right thru our windshield, shattering glass all over! This will have to get fixed. Amazing how sharp and fast that came up. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Bob keeps busy preparing his teaching times. We ask you to pray for our leaders here in the Arequipa city church, where we live. Bob is preparing some for eldership and is desiring to see them ready for this responsibility. They do a very good job while Bob is gone, but we desire to see them recognized as elders.

There are some hangups here. Also we ask you to pray for our national workers. Some have problems, specifically now the one in the Espinar area, who has gone to Cayarani, way up above Espinar. He has some attitude problems with the believers in Espinar, which is hindering the furthering of the Gospel there.

A happy surprise: our dear oldest GRANDdaughter, Tamra, is getting married in Florida in December. Also, a nephew of Bob's is getting married in Michigan in January. So we are hoping and planning to go up to the U.S. for a month. Shorter this time, and only east, as far west as Michigan and Indiana, but this grandma is sure looking forward to seeing family and share these special events with these special people! Please help us pray for God's leading in this too!

God convicted me of my forgetfulness. HE has provided the funds for the building of the 3rd floor of the primary (elementary) school! We are most thankful! Now Marino has to work on getting the permissions and the license.

They started and put up the bases and then the municipality said we had to have the license. We thought maybe it wouldn't be necessary as it is on the back of the school, not visible from the street, but because we are in the "centro historico" it is necessary. Marino and Lupe have gone to Lima for the school vacation as they had a very important event in their lives -- first grandchild born to daughter Yanira and her husband Javier. So all this paperwork will get done later this month, hopefully. THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!!!!

Written by Noél Rich | 02 July 2012

Hi y'all!

Where did June go?? And now July is starting off running, as they say! For me, school tests are coming up again this week and next, and I have to prepare most of them.

Bob and I went to Chuquibamba in early June. The car worked really well. Bob won't let me sleep in it with him, so we slept in a hotel. That was ok, much better than past years in hotels in a mountain town. There were a couple baptisms there, and meetings to encourage the small church there. It was a good weekend. Then Bob went another weekend later in June to Pampacolca. He slept in the car there. Worked ok!! Truly we are very very thankful for the vehicle. It is smaller than others we have had, but is fuel efficient, which is good, because it is gasoline, and gas here is over $5. a gallon! The U.S. $ is at an all time low, which doesn't help a lot. Guess that is true everywhere. God is so very good to us and supplies our needs. THANK YOU so very much for caring and sharing with us too. You are a real blessing!!

Here in the main Arequipa church we also have had baptisms the past two Sundays. Orlando, the husband of the lady we mentioned who has a real gift of evangelism, was baptized last week. We have a weekly Bible study in their home on Tues. evenings, to which they are inviting many neighbors, some believers, some who will soon become believers! Orlando and Gladys have made a second story on their house and are giving most of the downstairs for these meetings. Please help us pray for them and the ones there in this group. Also we have a Wed. evening Bible study with another family in another area here and their oldest son was baptized last week too. Jose has a daughter in the University. His wife left him a few years ago and lives in Lima with their 18 yr. old son. This has been hard for Jose, but he is trusting the Lord and growing in the faith. His folks and siblings are believers. They help him.

Two more were baptized last week and this week Eliot, a young man who was severely depressed, but now is now finishing law studies in the University was baptized. His folks have also been coming to church, but have had J.W. influence and are not yet ready to commit to Christ. Please pray for them, Abram and Elsa. So God is giving growth here and can turn bad news into good news.

Another really sad case that needs prayer, please, is for Marcos, the dentist we mentioned who worked in the plains town of Pedregal. He was baptized last year and is growing in the Lord. He comes to Arequipa on weekends, and a couple weeks ago he met with the surprise that his wife had left him, taking everything he had here, with their 14 yr. old son, Sergio.

Marcos is really sad over that and has tried to talk to her, without success. First she had said that her priest had told her that if Marcos did not return to the R.C. church, she should divorce him. Then she said he had to buy her another house (they own a house and a luxourious apt.) or she would leave. Well, he did not buy the house - they are really expensive now and they really don't need another one! Anyway, rumors are from the neighbors that she was being unfaithful and finally left.

Please pray for Marcos and for Sergio. We are helping him all we can, but only the Lord can work in these difficult situations. So many homes are coming apart. Our school kids suffer this too, we have many from broken or breaking homes. A really good Christian couple is coming monthly to give talks on marriage and home life and child raising at the school, for what we call "School for parents". Please pray more parents will take interest in this. Of course God's Word is the main text book.

Bob is helping translate some Creation materials and this has taken a lot of his time. He works hard preparing Bible studies too, and we are thankful that these are helping many, over radio and group teaching.

So much more has happened and is happening. Thank you so very much for praying so faithfully for us. Thank you for sharing with us too. Our street has been calmer recently, for which we are thankful, and there is even some police patrolling around.